Links

Lesson Learned: Check Receipts!

I was in the market for a decent pedometer, and I found one I liked on sale at Walgreen's today.

I was telling someone about it and checked my receipt to tell them the exact price after the discount, when I noticed I had been charged twice. I bought one pedometer watch, but they charged me for two. I thought I was out the extra money, because I am home now and there is no way to prove I only bought one. However, when I called the store, they asked for a few numbers off my receipt, and verified from camera footage that I had indeed bought one watch and was charged for two. I went back to the store and they processed my credit in no time.

This is a lesson to me. My mother, who has long since retired, always checks her grocery receipts. I'll admit, when I am with her, I find it a bit embarrassing, even though she often finds items that did not ring up at the advertised sale price. I don't want to scrutinize my own receipts, because I feel like it is rude to the cashier, and to the people waiting in line. But I could move away from the register and double check the receipt before I leave the store and not cause any delays for other people.

Today I was charged an extra $30. My total sale should have been $70, but it was $100, and I didn't even notice. It makes me wonder how many other times I have been over-charged without knowing.

From now on, I will take a few minutes to go over my receipts before I leave a store.

A similar thing happened to me with my cable bill. I got an introductory discount on internet service that expired, and I knew from past experience, if you call the cable company, they will often give you another discount. I called once and did not have any luck. But when I chatted with someone through their website, they gave me a new $20 a month discount. (It did take 30 minutes for them to work it out though.) However, when my bill came, I was still charged the higher rate. I had to call back, and talk to a manager, who was able to see that the woman I spoke to over chat did not complete the transaction, so the discount never went through. I cringe to think how many times I don't even open my cable bill.

A man I work with found out someone was at the mall using his credit card even though he was at work and had the credit card in his possession. Somehow they hacked into his account and made a clone of his card. I am thankful that now that I use MyMoneyPicture, I reconcile all my credit card statements against expenses I enter into MyMoneyPicture each month, so I know there are no charges on my bill that I didn't actually make. I also use a credit monitoring service to ensure no one is using my identity to open accounts.

So, Lesson Learned! A simple way to save is to check receipts, make sure we are getting credited for the discounts we're promised, and verify credit card activity.